Dark Hearts Still Beat
by SpikeFan4Life95
Summary: What goes together better than cold and dark? Pitch Black has been watching Elsa and waiting for years for her Coronation to go wrong and for her to flee from those she fears hurting. He initially planned to merely use her for another attack against the Guardians, but he inadvertently fell in love with her. Now his task is to convince her they can create beauty together.


**A/N:** It's been quite a while since I've had time to write some fan-fiction, and writing much needed Pitch/Elsa fan-fiction was just what I needed to get the creative juices flowing again. I find the possibilities with writing this ship pretty endless, and this will likely turn into a Dark!Elsa plot down the road a ways. Comments are always appreciated! c: Thanks for reading!

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Her breath came out in gasping sobs as she ran. It had been disastrous; she _was_ a disaster . . . a terror . . . a monster. She was _wrong_. Oh, she'd known it from the start – she'd had many years of isolation to reflect on that terrible truth – but she'd been able to deny it until now. Her own kingdom . . . afraid of her. Afraid of the Queen meant to rule them. It wasn't fair. She didn't ask to be like this – she hadn't asked for this terrible power, and now all she could do was destroy. The tears that flowed from her eyes froze when they hit her cheeks; the storm raging within her was now ripping across Arendelle – the brutal, icy wind sending sharp, painful snowflakes into her skin as she escaped from the city walls.

Elsa lost track of time, but somewhere in the mountains – The North Mountain, to be exact – she finally stopped, ran out of breath. The Queen leaned forward, her hands resting on her knees as she tried to get air back in her lungs. It was then that she realized the terrible tightness in her chest she constantly felt was not so terrible. All the emotions she had let free made her feel better than she had in a long time, and suddenly she was overwhelmed with an energy she hadn't previously known before. With a firm, almost angry hand, she yanked her crown off her head and let her hair down. She was out here on her own. She couldn't harm anyone if they just stayed away. She'd locked herself away before; she could just do it again. Anna – well, she could rule the kingdom.

Her voice echoed off the expansive, open space as she sang to her heart's content, and before she knew it, she had erected a large, frozen palace around her. She didn't mind. The cold never bothered her anyway. Still afraid of her power, she was wary, anxious, and distracted enough that she didn't notice she was being watched. The Snow Queen paced within her icy palace, wringing her hands nervously because her power was threatening to let loose again, and she failed to notice the shadows lurking outside her windows.

Pitch Black hadn't intended on visiting Arendelle longer than the time required to frighten all the children he needed to keep up his strength, but a certain blonde child had intrigued him all the years ago when he'd first appeared in the village. There was such fear emanating from that castle that loomed above the town with the gates tightly locked against the world, and his curiosity got the better of him. The younger one, Anna, well she was quite the bore. Just the run of the mill nightmares running through her head, and while her whimpers and screams were satisfying, they weren't the fears reaching out to him, taunting him with their delectability. _That_ was found behind the closed door which contained the girl who would eventually be the heir to the throne. Her name was Elsa, and the moment Pitch appeared in the shadows in her bedroom, her fear intoxicated him. It was unique; something so strong that just being in her presence was enough to make him feel powerful.

Her greatest fear? Herself. While it left him with no work to be done, he could still benefit from it. The nights that he lurked in the darkness, watching her told him a story that made him believe she'd be of use to him one day – when she was older. He only had to wait until the day she took the crown, the day she had to open the gates, and the day in which she wouldn't be able to conceal her powers any longer. What Pitch hadn't planned on was the growing obsession that would develop over the years as he watched her. She never knew he was there, of course, but sometimes he felt as though she felt his presence looming above her as she slept or in the dark corner of her room when she found herself unable to sleep. Her eyes would peer into the darkness, and he felt as though she saw right through him, saw the loneliness underneath.

He never planned to fall in love with her. This beautiful girl he couldn't speak to, the one who hardly knew he existed, but underneath the dark exterior, it appeared he did still have a beating heart. Oh he was _disgusted_ with himself, told himself these feelings were nothing, just some sort of figment of his mind, created only to keep his interest on her, but what else would explain the inexplicable thoughts racing through his mind? The fantasies he sometimes found himself dreaming up. He imagined her smiling up at him – because he was certain she'd have a beautiful smile if she ever showed it – as he instructed her and helped her control her powers. He imagined them working together, their powers combining beautifully into the perfect mixture of cold and dark. She could be his Snow Queen, and he her King of Nightmares. Neither of them would have to be alone ever again.

His plan required him to watch her downfall and exploit it as much as possible before he'd be able to help her pick back up the pieces. She wouldn't need this life, wouldn't need that irritating sister and her infernal knocking and pestering about building damn snowmen, and why should she rule the Kingdom of Arendelle when she could rule the _world_ at his side?

All those years of preparation led him to this moment, the moment he would finally be able to show himself to her. She may be an adult, but the fear inside her had finally overwhelmed her, and people fearing her? Well it only made her more like him, and more likely to see that which she resembles. His forehead wrinkled in concentration, Pitch set to work manipulating his nightmare sand. He wouldn't want to frighten her away – the fear constantly in her chest made it unnecessary, he didn't _need_ to frighten her – but he would show her just how beautiful the darkness could be. His fingers worked expertly as he molded the creature to his heart's desire and when the creature was ready, he sent it inside through a crack in the walls Elsa had neglected to cover over with thick ice.

The horse, strong and beautiful rather than terrifying like his typical nightmare evaporated into black smoke, drifted inside through the opening, and reformed back inside the palace. The nightmare sought out Elsa in order to carry through on its Master's bidding, a small note tied to one of its legs.

Elsa was seated in her throne made of ice when she felt a tickling on her neck. A soft giggle escaped her as she moved her head, thinking her hair was brushing against her neck, but then a little puff of air, accompanied by a snort blew on her neck and she squealed and turned her head in time to catch a dark horse made of inky blackness nuzzling into her hair. The Queen actually _smiled_ at it and reached for it before she remembered she'd forgotten her gloves somewhere across the room where she'd thrown them earlier. Elsa flinched when her touch froze some of the horse, but the darkness just reformed over the spot and it was as if she hadn't touched it in the first place. Amazement appeared in her features, and her smile from earlier returned as the creature nuzzled against her neck and flew around her head.

"Oh my, what are you doing here? What _are_ you?" She asked aloud, though she wasn't expecting any sort of answer. She was right – in some ways, but when the horse reached its front foot forward and she spotted the note on it, she realized perhaps _this_ was the answer she was looking for. "What have you got tied to your leg there?" Her fingers worked quickly to untie the paper – the tie felt strange in her fingers and she was certain that if her hands didn't freeze it, they would have passed right through it. Excitement suddenly welled up in her, and curiosity overwhelmed her as she unraveled the 'parchment.' It was made out of the same material as the horse, but this time when she froze it, it stayed that way, but uncovered a secret message only reveled from the frost spreading across it.

_See what mysteries your powers unlock? You have such potential for greatness if you'd just allow someone to teach you to control it. Power shouldn't be something to fear – you are a Queen, and you could be so much more. I know what it's like to be feared, to be chased out, for people to not believe in you. We have much in common Elsa – all I ask is that you allow me to show you what beauty we can create together._

Blue eyes raced across the parchment, taking in every word, savoring every kind phrase she seemed to detect – kindness was something she hadn't experienced much of in her isolation all her life, and it made her all the more willing to find out whom this person was. There was no signature on the parchment, and when she finished reading it, darkness spread through it and it evaporated into black smoke. Elsa's eyes widened. It was amazing, whatever this darkness was. She hadn't known darkness could be so beautiful.

When she turned back around to examine the horse again, she was met with a sight that startled her. A gasp of surprise left her lips when she spotted a man in her palace with the horse floating around him before nuzzling into his palm and turning to black sand and skittering _into_ his hand. She was at a loss of words for a moment, and when she recovered, the words that escaped her were not what she expected.

"_You_ did this? It was – it was beautiful," she admitted, awe in her tone. There were no harsh words flung at this stranger, no questions as to why he was there, and for the first time in a long time, she felt no need to send him away from her. She saw what happened to that horse when she touched it – the darkness had returned and combatted the ice. She didn't have to worry about hurting . . . or killing, a stranger. "I've never seen anything like it."

"And _I_ have never seen anything like you."


End file.
